New Swedish course to start in fall

After two terms of frustration and cancelled courses, the municipality has taken action. It will offer international students a five-week Swedish course that also includes culture and history education, starting next semester. 



Swedish for Immigrants (SFI), the course offered to longer-staying immigrants, has been a source of disappointment among students. Until last semester, special SFI courses for master students staying two years were organized. But they were cancelled at an early stage during the term due to a broken deal between the company organizing the course and the municipality. As a result, master students had to apply for regular SFI, which is so popular that it has a long queue and often doesn’t match with students’ schedules. 

The problems have continued this spring, as the student-SFI courses were not resumed. In the end of January, a meeting between the University and the municipality was organized to talk about improvements.

“SFI is a very strict course, with strict regulations. What most students really need is an introductory course into the Swedish language and society,” says Daniel Gunnarsson, master coordinator at Lund University.

Therefore, the municipality has come with a plan for a five-week course offered to all master students with a personal number. Within the existing laws for SFI, this would have been complicated to execute, tells Annika Moshovitis, headmaster of SFI at the municipality.

“SFI is a national course with national exams, but the five-week course will be offered as something extra.”

This gives the needed space to adjust the content of the classes. So, they will not only include language education, but also information on Swedish history, culture and Lund municipality.

“If students want to continue next year after the five-week course, they are welcome to apply for regular SFI,” says Annika Moshovitis.

Currently, the exact planning and content of the course are still under construction, tells Björn Elias, Principal of Adult Education (Komvux) at the municipality.

“But it is almost certain that the course will be paid for by the municipality and that it will be free for the students.”

Daniel Gunnarsson is positive about the developments, even though the details have not yet been established.

“The meeting in January was very good. The people of the municipality were aware of the challenges faced by master students. I’m very positive that the new course will be a good solution.”